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New Code Of Ethics For More Transparent Medical Technology Industry
RAJ Devices, the regulatory affairs journal published by Informa and covering the medical technology industry, has published a comprehensive feature on how companies in the US can comply with a much stricter code of ethics that medical technology industry association AdvaMed will launch on 1 July.
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Washington Post Columnist Gerson Critical Of Justice Ginsburg's Comments On Abortion In NYT Magazine Interview
"There was a scandal this week" involving Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg"s comments on abortion rights during an interview with the New York Times Magazine, according to Washington Post columnist Michael Gerson. In response to a question on access to abortion and restrictions on Medicaid coverage of the procedure, Ginsburg said, "Frankly I had thought that at the time Roe [v. Wade] was decided, there was concern about population growth and particularly growth in populations that we don"t want to have too many of. So that Roe was going to be then set up for Medicaid funding for abortion." According to Gerson, the "context surrounding this passage is a simplistic, pro-choice rant." He adds, "Abortion, in Ginsburg"s view, is an essential part of sexual equality, thus ending all ethical debate." Ginsburg in the interview also said, "There will never be a woman of means without choice anymore. That just seems to be so obvious." She added, "So we have a policy that affects only poor women, and it can never be otherwise, and I don"t know why this hasn"t been said more often."Gerson writes, "Given this context, can it be argued that Ginsburg -- referring to "populations that we don"t want to have too many of" -- was merely summarizing the views of others and describing the attitudes of the country when Roe v. Wade was decided?" He continues, "It can be argued -- but it is not bloody likely. Who, in Ginsburg"s statement, is the "we"? And who, in 1973, was arguing for the eugenic purposes of abortion?" According to Gerson, "It is more likely that Ginsburg is describing the attitude of some of her own social class -- that abortion is economically important to a "woman of means" and useful in reducing the number of social undesirables."Gerson writes, "The entire Ginsburg interview is a reminder of the risks of lifetime appointments to the Supreme Court." He continues, "Immune from criticism, surrounded by plump cushions of deference, the temperament of a justice can become exaggerated over time." He adds that her statements "would have been disqualifying" had they been made during her own confirmation hearing. "Now she doesn"t give a damn," Gerson says.He continues that Ginsburg"s "timing ... is instructive" because she made the remarks as Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor is "emphasizing her low-income and minority roots." According to Gerson, "It is estimated that the Hyde Amendment limiting Medicaid abortions has saved one million lives since its passage in 1976 -- some, no doubt, became criminals and some, perhaps, lawyers and judges." He concludes, "It is a defining question for modern liberalism: Are these men and women "populations that we don"t want to have too many of," or are they citizens worthy of justice and capable of contribution?" (Gerson, Washington Post, 7/17).
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Adult Cancer Survivors At Increased Risk Of Psychological Distress
Long-term survivors of cancer that developed in adulthood are at increased risk of experiencing serious psychological distress, according to a report in the July 27 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Diagnostics

Investigating Why The Immune System Fails To Control Hepatitis C: Mass. General-Based Research Center

A research consortium based at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) has been awarded $15 million from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to investigate how the hepatitis C virus (HCV) resists suppression and clearance by the immune system. The five-year grant will support a Cooperative Center for Translational Research in Human Immunology, which also will focus on how some individuals successfully recover from HCV while the infection becomes chronic in most of those infected, with a special emphasis on immunological events in the liver as the site of HCV replication. "Hepatitis C is a major global health problem for which existing therapies are inadequate," says Raymond Chung, MD, director of Hepatology in the MGH Gastrointestinal Unit and co-director of the research center. "Improving our understanding of how and why the virus consistently evades immune system control should lead us to better ways of treating hepatitis C and possibly other chronic viral infections." Chung will lead a project to better define the role of the liver cells called hepatocytes in the innate and adaptive immune response to HCV infection. Center co-director Paul Klenerman, PhD, of Oxford University will examine properties of the T cells that migrate to the liver in response to HCV infection. Additional principal investigators and project goals are: * Georg Lauer, MD, PhD, MGH Gastrointestinal Unit, and John Wherry, PhD, Wistar Institute - investigate the functional capacity of CD4 and CD8 T cells within the liver in chronic HCV infection; * Todd Allen, PhD, Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, and Matthew Henn, PhD, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard - examine how selection pressure applied by T cells affects HCV evolution; * Gordon Freeman, PhD, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute - develop a panel of reagents designed to modulate signaling in key immune cells; * Joseph Misdraji, MD, MGH Pathology - create a library of liver cells and tissue from HCV-infected and uninfected patients to use in study experiments; * Nicholas Haining, MB, ChB, Dana-Farber - develop high-throughput technology platforms to examine and modulate signals inhibiting the immune response. Almost 170 million people worldwide are infected with HCV, 50 to 80 percent of whom will develop chronic hepatitis, which can lead to cirrhosis, liver cancer or liver failure. Identifying the factors that allow HCV to survive in spite of the immune response against the virus may also improve understanding of immune system failure in other chronic infections, including HIV, Epstein-Barr virus, and tuberculosis. Sue McGreevey Massachusetts General Hospital


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